Despite being deeply engrossed in battle against pandemic District Administration is fully geared up to check stubble burning said Deputy Commissioner, Girish Dayalan.With paddy harvesting expected to pick up momentum in the next fortnight, we have three pronged strategy in place. We are focusing on awareness generation coupled with in-situ and ex-situ stubble management and stringent action against the errant farmers.To nudge the action against stubble burning, awareness vans have been launched which are going from village to village and making the people aware of the adverse effects of stubble burning. The vans are also generating awareness regarding stubble management machinery available in the district. Posters, pamphlets, wall paintings, demonstration plots and anti- stubble burning announcements from local Gurudwaras form the other IEC activities.The area under paddy cultivation in the district is around 25800 hectares which is expected to result in 1.29 lakh quintals of crop residue. There are 1700 stubble management machines in the district. The stubble management machinery is being provided on rental basis to the farmers through 67 cooperative societies and the 29 custom hiring centres in the district.
Besides, there are 75 combines with Super Straw Management system and 4000 harrows for stubble management. Through the in-situ crop residue management scheme 107 new machines are also being given to the societies / farmers. “We expect to successfully tackle stubble management with these machines,” said Dayalan.“We have formed Rapid Response Teams and appointed village level Nodal Officers who would monitor the area under the jurisdiction and report stubble burning, if any,” said Deputy Commissioner. He said that they have been trained to use ATR Mobile App through which they will share on- the- spot action taken. Response time is fixed and it is mandatory for every officer to update action taken in the stipulated period.“Immediate response to the fire incident resulting in quick slapping of penalties on errant farmers will deter others to follow the suite,” said Dayalan. The other punitive actions include FIRs and red entry in the revenue record of the farmer.Pertinently, the land with red entry is difficult to sell or mortgage.SAS Nagar was third in the state last year among the districts which recorded least stubble burning incidents. In the year 2019, 82 people were penalized to the tune of Rs 2.55 lakh and seven FIRs were registered. This year we expect to further contain stubble burning, said DC.